THE COLOR PURPLE essay

See attached for a sample thesis statement using one of the ISP Starter Quotations

ISU Essay:  Topic

From the perspective of a Marxist, Feminist, Archetypal or Psychoanalytic literary critic, how does your novel explore the literary/world view in terms of  technique, characterization, conflict and/or theme.

Celie apparently prefers women to men in general, including sexually. In her case, her terrible treatment by men could be a critical factor. What could be going on in her mind? How the author Alice Walker uses one of the schools of criticism to show this.

Quotations to get you thinking: Power Relationships- Marxism or Feminism

Sir Francis Bacon

-Nothing destroys authority more than the unequal and untimely interchange of power stretched too far and relaxed too much.

George Orwell

-Power is not a means, it is an end.  One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

-Carl Jung

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction both are transformed.

Carl Jung

-Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

Seneca

-He is most powerful who has power over himself.

Martin Luther King Jr.

-I am not interested in power for power’s sake but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Quotations to get you thinking: Personality and Behavior Patterns: Psychoanalytic or Archetypal

Ralph Waldo Emerson

-Between stimulus and response is our greatest power-  the freedom to choose.

Albert Einstein

-The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

Carl Jung

-Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

I will provide one on one help via email as you are working on your paper ra during this two week period.   

  Stick to the schedule and you will be in great shape.

There is not necessarily a relationship between Celie's social preferences and her sexual preferences, but there might be. Moreover, there may or may not be a link between her life experiences and her preferences. Use evidence from the text to try out a variety of possibilities to understand why Celie is the way she is. If she has different feelings about different men (likewise for different women), does this mean that we cannot even make a generalization about Celie's preferences? Do her views for or against men and women in general change over the course of the novel?

Thesis needs to be outlined

CELIE WAS abused by men all around her: her father, her husband. All the men around her disrespected her

She was close with her sister and Shug who is a blues singer

What goes on in her mind is primarily depicted through her letters and prayers to God (maybe include a quote from one of the letters)

Quotes need to be used in MLA format also a citation page

Characters:

Celie: the protagonist and also the narrator who is raped, abused, and impregnated by her father.

Nettie: Celie’s younger sister. She is prettier and smarter than Celie. She goes to Africa to study and writes to Celie for many years.

Mr.__ occasionally called Albert: A man from the church that Celie’s father traded her to marry. Mr.__ also mistreats Celie.

Shug: A well-known Blues entertainer who is the lover of Mr.__ but ends up leaving Mr.__ to become best friends/lovers with Celie.

Harpo: Mr.__’s son. Described as insecure and becomes very abusive as a result of this.

Sofia: A strong-minded rebellious woman who is married to Harpo. Sofia also endured abuse but refuses to tolerate it.

PLOT SUMMARY AND QUOTES CAN BE FOUND ON THIS WEBSITE